With all the excitement over Mary Poppins Returns brewing lately, a lot of fans have been wondering if the O.G. Poppins, Julie Andrews, will be making a cameo appearance. As it turns out, Andrews is in full support of the sequel, but she won’t be in it, and she has a very good reason why.

She had known it was in the works, then we said, ‘We’re doing it,’ and she said, ‘Oh, thank God.' Then we said, ‘And we’re thinking of Emily Blunt,’ and she just threw her hands up in the air and said yes. I think a lot of people feel that way about Emily’s work.

Same.

But when it came to whether she would appear in it, she ultimately said no.

Julie was incredibly gracious, and we talked about it in a very general way but she made it clear right up front. She said, ‘This is Emily’s show, and I really want it to be Emily’s show. I don’t want it to be, “Oh, here comes that Mary Poppins.” I don’t want that. I really want her to take this and run with it, because she will be brilliant.’

I, like, most people from my generation, would probably get a little misty-eyed at seeing Andrews in a new Mary Poppins movie, but she makes a good point. If she had decided to cameo, the talk around the movie would be less “Wasn’t Emily Blunt a great Poppins?” and more “Did you see Julie Andrews in it??” It’s a really gracious choice form Andrews, and I think the movie looks cute and fun enough as it is.